Following the Footsteps
by Winkie4
Summary: Sure, you know all about Gordan Freeman's adventures. But do you know about Rodney Delrouse, a security officer who followed in Gordan's footsteps during his legacy?
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to Black Mesa

Following the Footsteps

Chapter One

"Welcome to Black Mesa"

Rodney Delrouse carefully turned his car into the parking garage. He looked to his right and noticed a man wearing a blue suit looking at him, straightening his tie, and walking out of sight. Odd, Rodney thought, because most of the employees here wore lab coats or security uniforms.

Rodney Delrouse worked at the Black Mesa research center. His job was as a security officer, and he worked in Sector G. Today was a bright, sunny day, and it was very hot, over a hundred at least. Luckily, the whole center was kept at a nice 68 degrees at all time. He drove the car into a nearby parking space, next to a security officer sitting in a room reading the newspaper.

"Go on in, Delrouse," the officer known as Marion Heir. He then continued to read the paper.

Rodney replied, "Alright, Heir. Are the trams working fine today? I was thinking of taking one.."

"Well, not too well in this sector. It seems the whole facility has been having problems today. But you're in for an important meeting with Dr Farine around 9 this morning. You can try a tram if you like, you're a bit late. It's 8:39 right now," Heir said, and then continued with his paper.

Rodney sighed and proceeded to the tram waiting station. Miraculously, however, a tram showed up 6 minutes later. He got on and waited for it to start. A voice on the intercome suddenly began to speak.

"Good morning, and welcome to the Black Mesa transit system." The train began to move. "This automated train is provided for the security and convenience of the Black Mesa Research Facility personnel. The time is 8:45 A.M. Current topside temperature is 93 degrees with an estimated high of 105." Rodney watched the train go by, and noticed many interesting areas. He saw a laundromat, multiple laboritories, and another train with a security officer getting off onto a platform with a lone door. "The Black Mesa compound is maintained at a pleasant 68 degrees at all times. The train is inbound from sector G security centers." The train moved into an airlock, and Rodney had a chance to sit down. "If your intended destination is a high security area beyond sector C, you will need to return to the central transit hub in area 9 and board a high security train. If you have not yet submitted your identity to the retinal clearance system, you must report to the Black Mesa personnel for processing before you will be permitted into the high security branch of the transit system."

The train pulled into a station, where yet another security officer came over and checked his identity.

"Delrouse, eh? Yep, it's you alright. Go on, I'm just messing with you. And hey!" he yelled as Rodney began to walk inside, "Don't forget about your meeting!"

Rodney nodded and stopped at a vending machine. He had a chance to get a fruit drink before a scientist bumped into him.

The scientist looked distant and said, "Oh, pardon me, sir. I'm just late. I need to report to the Sector C test labs for an important

experiment!" Before he left, Rodney managed a peek at his name tag, which read Dr. Kleiner.

Rodney continued on. He passed a storage room where a security officer was rearranging everything. He passed scientists relaxing or working

on large computers. Finally, he arrived at his small work area, complete with his nametag. He picked it up and pinned it to his shirt. He glanced at the

clock and saw it was 9:02.

Rodney suddenly gathered his things, ran to his locker, pulled out his uniform, hurried and put it on, and rushed to the meeting room. Dr. Farine

was already there.

He looked up, and said, "Ah, Rodney Del-"

There was a sudden rumble, and he paused. There was another, and a small amount of dust fell from the ceiling. An intercom suddenly spoke,

"Malfunction detected in the Anomalous Materials lab. Security staff in Sector-"

Then there was an explosion. Rodney was knocked off his feet and cascaded onto the ground before he blacked out. 


	2. Chapter 2: The Anomalous Malfunction

Following the Footsteps

Chapter Two

"The Anomalous Malfunction"

Rodney suddenly opened his eyes to see a blurred meeting room. His forehead was hot and wet. A puddle of blood surrounded him. The meeting table was cracked in half.

He groaned and sat up. He looked to see that the hot wetness on his forehead was blood. He knew something was up.

Rodney stood up shakily, and looked around. The entire meeting room was destroyed. A television lay on the ground, a table cracked in half, glass everywhere, potted plants uprooted. He suddenly remembered Dr. Farine and looked to the far end of the room.

Dr. Farine lay in another puddle of blood, his eyes blank and staring. Rodney suddenly had a lump in his throat. He reached for his gun and held it to him for safety.

He decided that he couldn't stay here forever, and walked to a storage room that was gated off. A security officer lay in a blood puddle at the far end of the room, and Rodney realized that it was the same one who was rearanging things. He wondered if the blast could have killed this man too, or if it was something else...

Since it was gated off, he backtraced his steps into his workspace. His chair flipped over, glass broken, posters ripped from the wall- it was a mess. Rodney began to attempt to get out of there. When he arrived at where he had entered earlier, the entire doorway was blocked by some filing cabinets and chairs. Rodney tried to budge them, but was unsuccessful. This wasn't good.

He looked around. That was the only exit, and his only other option was to escape through the glass. And beyond the glass was not the outside, but a lab. It marked the beginning of sector F.

Rodney carefully made his way through the window, without cutting himself up, and stood up. A scientist with a white beard lay strewn on a desk, with blood cruelly splattered on the wall. Several gashes were in his skull. Rodney wondered if he could help him, but chances were the scientist was dead. He went into a hallway.

On one end of it was an elevator. The body of a security guard lay on it, with blood splattered on the elevator doors. "Oh..." Rodney whispered. But an elevator meant up, which is as safe as you can be, and Rodney pushed the button with some difficulty. The doors opened immediately, but there was no elevator, just an empty shaft with ropes dangling from above. He saw the elevator suspended high, and it wasn't moving. Rodney needed to try something else.

He continued through the hallway to hear grunts and moans. Happy to hear signs of life, he turned the corner.

Rodney came upon a security officer and a scientist, but they were not their usual self. Their chests ripped open, displaying many guts and organs. Creatures were on their heads, obscuring their faces. Luckily, it was gated off, so they could not touch Rodney, but he was freaked out anyway. The creatures must have been controlling the men, so Rodney pulled out his gun and shot the scientist first. But Rodney only succeeded in harming the scientist, and Rodney tried shooting the creature. The scientist zombie fell after it tried to take a swipe at Rodney. Then he shot the security officer zombie to death. This place is weird.

He reloaded, and saw another creature on the ground. It looked identical to the ones controlling the people. It suddenly did a sort of yell and jumped up to hit the gate. Rodney shot that as well.

He walked on, wondering if it was right to kill them. He arrived at more office space, and walked along to arrive at another hallway gated off. Inside it was a man lying dead on the floor, and a zombie crouched over it, apparently eating him. Rodney panicked and shot the zombie. If that way was gated, he would have to find another way. He came to more broken glass, and no door, so he carefully climbed through that as well. Unfortunately, he cut his arm on the trip in. He arrived at more office space before the ceiling fell and more creatures fell through.

He cried, and shot them, because they were attempting to eat his face off. He quickly decided to call them face eaters, for lack of a better name. He looked to his left to see a zombie being controlled by a face eater, right before the zombie took a swipe at Rodney and tore a gash in his back.

Yelling in pain, he shot the zombie to death, and his bleeding body wasn't helping things. He limped toward the way the zombie had come.

He came upon one of the main hallways, except lots of it was gated off, to apparently keep away the zombies and Rodney. He then heard a yell, a human yell, coming from an ungated doorway. When Rodney hurried towards it, he saw three zombies, slowly walking towards him. He shot them, but ran out of ammo in the middle of his second one. Without anything to fight with, he began to panic. Finally, he saw a wrench on the ground, and used it to hit the zombies to death. Out of breath, he walked in the direction of the voice.

Rodney found a scientist sitting on a meeting table, looking at Rodney with hope. But a zombie was right behind him, and Rodney rushed toward it to kill it. When he was done, the scientist spoke.

"Oh, thank you! Delrouse, is it? You'll never guess who is here. The United States Military! But..." He pointed at the ground, where a soldier lay, apparently dead. "They want to kill us all. This one died from a zombie, but there are many more." The scientist then pointed at the windows, where Rodney could actually see daylight and the sun. "If you were hoping to escape through the windows, then give up, because they are all gated off! It's madness! I suppose you could try to dislodge one, but you might be unsuccessful."

Rodney heard a distant helicopter, and decided to try the gates. Before that, though, he went over to the soldier and took his machine gun. Might as well need it, now. Rodney hit the gates with his wrench, but wasn't successful. This isn't working. He hit many until he finally came upon one that dislodged and fell.

He jumped in triumph, and looked at the scientist. "You coming?" Rodney asked.

"No, I'll stay here.." the scientist replied, looking around. "I think there are soldiers out there."

Rodney shrugged and looked out the window. It appeared he was on the second story, but there was a ladder, so no problem. He climbed down it to come to a security booth. There was a dead officer, and a face eater, on the ground, apparently ready to attack Rodney. But he was quicker. Picking up his new machine gun, he yelled, "EAT LEAD, FACE EATER!" and pulled the trigger. All that happened was a dead click, and Rodney's heart sank. It was out of ammo. Rather anticlimatic, but he picked up his wrench and proceeded to kill it with that.

He looked at all the moniters. All were blank, but there was a television on the desk. The same man in the blue suit and tie was on it, looking out through a gate. He brushed his suit, turned, and walked off. A dead zombie lay right in front of the gate, and Rodney realized that he had been there earlier. Then, the T.V. went blank. Looking at the back, he saw that it was unplugged! How could that man appear on it when there was no power?

No matter. Rodney was outside, meaning that he could escape. He looked around, and saw a garage door that was closed, and a locked fence. His only other option of departure was a small hallway going into the Black Mesa facility. He decided that it was his only way, and walked in. There was blood at the end of the hallway, and he didn't want to know whose it was. 


	3. Chapter 3: Escape the Undead

Following the Footsteps

Chapter Three

"Escape the Undead"

As Rodney grew nearer, he finally realized that the blood belonged to a fellow security officer. He lay in a heap at the end of the hall, and Rodney shuddered as he passed him. The end of the tunnel was in view.

Rodney looked at a gate that blocked his view. A small beeping was head. He tried to push it, and to his surprise, it fell over like the one on the window. Looks like they needed better contractors. When he walked outside, two loud beeps were heard, and a shower of bullets rained down upon him. One hit his shoulder and he backed away and collapsed.

"Argh!" he cried next to the former officer's body. Blood escaped through his uniform and it stained it. Rodney brushed it away and wondered what shot him. A security officer? The military? Zombies with guns?

When he got the strength to get up and peer around the doorway, he saw two turrets guarding his gate. Several dead scientists and zombies lay in its radius. He sat back down and wondered what to do now.

Looking at the dead man's body, he searched it quickly without touching him. He found some ammo that he gladly put into his pistol; one whole clip. Nice of him to die with a full set of ammo, Rodney thought. He then looked around again.

Some debris was discarded in a corner. Rodney searched it and found a dead headcrab, pens, paper, two small green pineapples, and some more pistol ammo. There's ammo everywhere, it seemed.

Rodney looked at his loot. He stored the ammo in his belt, and looked at the pineapples. Wait... these aren't pineapples. "These are grenades!" Rodney yelled and dropped them, only to fear that they would go off. Thankfully, they didn't. Rodney looked at them and wondered if they could help him knocking those turrets over. He looked at his options: Die here where nobody would find him, or try throwing these pineapples and hope for the best. That pretty much cleared it up.

He crouched to the doorway, pulled the pin on a grenade, yelled, and threw it at the turrets. Sure enough, it exploded and knocked the glass out of a window. Rodney peered out the door to see if it worked. The turrets were still there with a large scorch mark behind them.

Rodney pulled the pin on the other, hoped his arm wouldn't get blown off, and threw it again, this time slightly softer. It exploded and Rodney looked. The turrets were in mid-fall, and when the hit the ground they started beeping, spraying bullets everywhere. He yelled and ducked so he wouldn't get hit again.

Finally, they stopped, and Rodney looked outside again. Military jets flew overhead, and a helicopter hovered dangerously close to the ground before flying off. Maybe that's my escape, he thought.

Rodney looked around again and headed for a nearby parking garage. He walked inside, and headed for the tram station. He neaded to get out of here.

Unfortunately, it was clear that Rodney wouldn't be taking the trams. The rail was twisted and bent, and a crushed tram car lay several meters below. This place just wasn't making it easy for him.

Rodney finally turned to head to the other end of the parking garage, where he could see some more fresh air. When he drew closer, though, he found that the whole ceiling had crashed down in front of the exit. Don't trust Black Mesa's carpenters.

All other exits were blocked as well, except the way he came and a small doorway. He hauled himself inside, to have a look around. Inside a small room with windows were a dead security guard and two scientist zombies. Rodney's stomach lurched and he realized the dead security guard was Marion Heir, the man who let him in that morning. Rodney was careful to kill the face eaters on the scientists bodies, but it appeared that the former scientists were dead anyway. Rodney moved on through a hallway.

He ended up at a small staircase, which he climbed to enter the main building again. He read a small sign that marked the beginning of Sector E. He walked on through the hallway, only to pause and look out the window. It looked onto what seemed to be a railway track, and Rodney heard a sound. It got louder and louder, until he finally saw an orange train roll by with a man in an HEV suit riding it carrying a crowbar. Rodney figured he must have stolen it to be safer around here, which seemed to be a good idea. Rodney pressed on.

He turned to corner to see two face eaters and one security guard zombie walking towards him. Rodney yelled and used his pistol to kill the bunch. He was getting rather sick of these. It was like a chore. Wash the dishes, mow the lawn, kill the face eaters.

He walked into an office, only to find the ceiling ripped open with an air vent dangling low. Face eaters jumped out of it, launching themselves at Rodney's face. In an instant, he backed away, hit them with his wrench, and then looked around. There was no other way; he would have to take the vent.

Hoping with all his might, he carefully climbed in. It didn't collapse and seemed very sturdy. Maneuvering around in the dark was a different story. I'm sure there are plenty of face eaters in here, he thought.

His prediction came true very quickly. One leapt into sight, but Rodney couldn't move his arms quick enough in the cramped airvent. The face eater tried latching onto his head, but had equal difficulty. Finally, Rodney pulled out his wrench and started banging on it. The squeals subsided and he saw some light at the end of the vent. Rodney looked down, and found some flimsy grating over another office. No sign of death, so he broke it and fell down.

He came to find some destroyed computers. They were very old, malfunctioning with loud beeps. Rodney stepped over them to find more zombies. When they met his pistol, they fell. Rodney continued.

When it seemed there was no way out of this maze, and no exit sign to be anywhere in sight, he heard the sound of a helicopter's rotors. Safety! Rodney went in that direction.

He came to the source, to find that only half of the people had life in them. No matter, they were not moving at all. A helicopter hovered right outside some broken windows, with a metal bridge between the window and the chopper. Nearly bursting with pride, Rodney stepped inside and they closed the doors. The shadow of a man wearing a blue suit with a briefcase pointed at a chair.

"Mister Delrouse..."


	4. Chapter 4: The 7 Hour War

Following the Footsteps

Chapter Four

"The 7 Hour War"

Rodney heard the voice, and then suddenly felt like he was falling. Air wooshed around him, yet he didn't strike a surface. Finally, he landed on a metal grating and light flooded into his eyes. Air filled his lungs and noise polluted his ears. He felt something hot and sticky.

Rodney looked around. He was on top of a large building, and the destroyed helicopter was beside him, with scorch marks all over it. He groaned and moved around; he lay in a puddle of blood. Yet again.

Unfortunately, there was gunfire in the air. A building was on fire nearby, and smoke billowed into the air. He was in Boston, Massachusetts.

Afraid of what he might see, Rodney peered over the side of the building. What appeared to be chanting people below were holding large signs reading "Say no to the combine!" Rodney decided to try and get to them.

He was on top of a building with a helicopter pad on top, where they appeared to have crashed. There was a door on the side, and Rodney entered it.

Inside this building was a long hallway with doors on either side, and two elevators in the middle. This was a hotel, and a very nice one by the looks of it. He entered the elevator, and pressed the button that had a one on it. The lift began its decent.

When he reached the bottom and looked around, it was a disaster. The group with the signs were running everywhere, yelling and pointing at a rocket that streaked towards the ground. It hit, and everyone gathered around it to see what it was.

"What's that tan thing?" a man asked.

In a split second, the tan thing jumped onto the man's face and latched on. He started screaming, attempting to pull it off, but was no match for the face eater. He groaned, and took a swipe at a large lady.

Panic ensued. Rodney reached for his wrench, and proceeded to try and get the thing off the man. While it did work, the male was dead by the time the face eater was off. And then there was more gunfire.

Men wearing gas masks with blue eyes and padding around their bodies held unknown guns, firing at the citizens. They tried to hit Rodney too, but just in time, he reached for his SMG and opened fire. Soon enough, the soldiers were dead.

More came, however, and Rodney just decided to pick up the weapon and see how it worked. He found what appeared to be a trigger, and it fired, making a nice, meaty noise. It killed a nearby face eater in two seconds, being an automatic weapon. There was an inscription on the side, but the language was one Rodney didn't know.

"Aw, man, what now?" Rodney yelled when explosions occured at the top of the building he was just in. Fire rained down, and the destroyed helicopter landed with a crunch onto the pavement. So much for that being his escape.

Rodney ran forward, firing his new gun at more soldiers. Large barracades blocked much of his path, so he kept needing to find detours. A man in a blue suit was on a bridge, in the corner of Rodney's eye, but when he took a closer look, the man was gone. "Who is that?" he said, speaking his thoughts to a panicking old man. The man suddenly eyed his weapon and walked away as fast as he could.

Rodney walked under the bridge, and there was a beeping noise nearby. Two turrets were faced at an apartment building, shooting zombies. At least they know what to fire at, he thought. But he couldn't get by without being fired at, so he tipped them over and decided to find out what was in the building.

Although the top section was on fire, the bottom wasn't, and that's where more soldiers were. They fired at Rodney, Rodney fired back, soldiers were dead, woo, same story everytime. No details. Rodney decided that this building wasn't exactly safe, and exited.

Outside, there appeared to be a wreck. Cars were smashing into each other, the airbags going off. A 1998 Toyota hit a station wagon, which slid into a large tanker, creating a brilliant explosion. The sky was very cloudy, with blue swirls and purple lightning. Fire rained down, as more soldiers raided stores.

These soldiers didn't appear to be American, not even human for that matter. The gas masks they wore hid their faces, whatever they were. When they went down, they yelled, but it sounded just like a long, tired breath through their mask.

Rodney didn't have any business here. He entered a quiet alleyway only to find it infested with zombies. He tried to get on top of a bridge, only to have it crumble beneath his feet. He even tried to enter a house, in hopes of waiting until this blows over, only to have it also infested with zombies. No escape must be these soldiers motto.

Tired, and hungry, Rodney Delrouse came out of yet another dark, zombie alleyway. He wearily fired at more soldiers, who were trying to decide what to do with a citizen they had cornered. An even darker alleyway came into view, and Rodney expected it to be filled with zombies. But it wasn't.

He continued. There was an opening into a building here, and red light dominated the scene. It was quite spacious, much like Black Mesa's laboratories. There was another doorway. Rodney touched the handle, and suddenly felt himself floating. His view was obscurred by white fog, and he felt a familiar falling sensation...

Air filled his lungs, yet no noise polluted his ears except for his own, anticipated breathing. He stood up to become face to face with the man in the blue suit. Outside, the sky was still cloudy with blue swirls. The man he was facing had a black crew cut, and boney facial features.

"Mister Delrouse..."

It was the same voice he heard in the helicopter. He pronounced each syllable slowly, as if he was struggling with speaking.

"A pleasure to finally... meet you. I... suppose... you've noticed me... watching"

He said 'watching' menacingly, but he had a blank expression.

"watching... you. You're not supposed to be here, as a matter of fact. I have been interested in your behavior for quite some... time, now. You seem to have an excellent ability in getting out of... situations... that others would find... impossible."

The sky outside changed to blue, and a large, tall, blue building dominated the rest. All seemed calm, yet...

"I have a... heh... job... for you. If you accept this... job... then I will see you on the other side. If not, well, you will be forced to witness unforseen... consequences..."

"Your job description? Oh, I think that is quite... confidential... and important to my... employers... but, I can tell you this. I want you to find... Gordon Freeman... and... well... I am not permitted to say, actually, but I'm sure that will all be clear in... time..." 


	5. Chapter 5: City 17

Following the Footsteps

Chapter Five

"City 17"

Once the voice finished speaking... Rodney landed with a muffled flump next to a train. Rodney looked around; it was still Boston, Massachusetts. The only differences were the sky was now a normal blue, and the huge, tall building still dominated the scene.

Rodney stood up. He had his wrench, pistol, and SMG. Hoping to find a new weapon, he set off in this now familiar city. The only way forward led him towards a warehouse, which was quite empty except for a few boxes discarded in several corners. He heard groaning and mumbling, which usually meant one thing.

Face eaters suddenly leapt from behind the walls, aiming for Rodney's scalp. Using the wrench, he hit them until they stopped moving. These pests were getting in the way all the time.

He emerged from the warehouse to find a ghetto-type area. Shabby buildings towered over more zombies. A bent sign lay on the ground. This may take a while.

Rodney attempted to hit them all, and even succeeded at that. He entered a small house, bearing the inscription "No Headcrabs!" Thinking this name was an insult, Rodney figured he wasn't a headcrab and walked in.

A sofa, a chair, and a broken television were all that was in there. A lone table actually held... a shotgun. Shotguns are perfect for these situations! Rodney had seen them used on television before, so he knew how to operate it.

The deafening bang it created made him realize that he didn't have to much time to complete this job he was assigned. Where would this Gordon Freeman be?

Deciding to ask someone, he tried to exit the street. A small alleyway led to a group of men sitting around a fire, with bottles of beer surrounding them.

"Hey there!" one said. "Mighty fine get-up you have on."

Rodney looked at himself. He still wore his Black Mesa security uniform.

"Uh, yeah, I got it from Black Mesa. I work- well, worked there," Rodney stammered.

They had disbelieving stares. "Black Mesa? The thing that caused all this?"

"Erm..." Rodney muttered. Their eyebrows grew even higher.

"Well," one began, "around 1998 or so, some disaster happened there, releasing all sorts of aliens from Xen."

Xen?

"Yeah," another continued, "and that let the combine come and start the 7 hour war. We lost, because Dr. Breen signed up to become the face of Earth. You must know about Dr. Breen."

Of course - Dr. Wallace Breen was the Black Mesa Administrator there.

"Around 20 years or so passed, and now we're here. But this is the year that everything changes. We're going against the combine with the help of none other than Gordon Freeman!"

"What?" Rodney asked, suddenly alert. "Gordon Freeman? Where is he?"

Their faces fell. "We don't know. Five or six days ago, he was at Nova Prospekt, trying to get back to the city. The teleporter he and Alyx were using broke, and they haven't come back. They might be dead for all we know."

"Aw, shut up, Norman, you don't know that." the man elbowed the other.

Rodney's heart fell. How could he find Dr. Freeman if he could be dead?

"Hey!" one of the rebels said. "You could help us storm that barricade into the Citadel. That huge blue building," he said, pointing at the towering sky-scraper.

"Eh, why not," Rodney proclaimed, glad to have something to do.

"Great. Let's get going, the sun's setting pretty soon."

They set off, a group of 4 rebels and Rodney Delrouse. The bunch were quite weird. They'd say strange things at the wrong time. For instance, when the group got into the city and battled with soldiers, a female medic exclaimed, "I could eat a horse - hoove and all," and Rodney even thought he heard a male mutter something about dreaming about cheese.

"Come on, into the shelter!" the rebels yelled. Rodney was really getting worn down by his suit.

Once he got an eye of Rodney, he shoved a bunch of clothes at Rodney and said, "Wear this, it's light, has like four backpacks, and can carry all your guns."

It took Rodney a moment to take off his vest and change, and by the time that was over, they were off once again.

"Hey, get going! I'll meet up with you later. Barney here will take over." the leading rebel yelled, and sprinted off. A man in his thirties walked up, wearing a Civil Protection suit up to his head. He carried an SMG and slightly strutted.

"Ah, hey there. You must be the new recruit. Alright, I'm Barney, you must be..."

"Rodney Delrouse. I think you worked at Black Mesa as well?

"What?" Barney said. "As well? Oh, so you worked there too? What kind of -"

"Hey, we really don't have time for chatting!" a female rebel yelled. Barney's eyebrows went up and down, and then he said, "Yeah, she's right. Come on guys, to get to the Citadel we need to shut down the suppressor. We tried yesterday, but we couldn't manage it. Maybe we'll have better luck today."

A nearby moniter with a blue screen was suddenly displaying a black and white screen. What appeared to be a scientist in a lab coat and a girl with black hair and tan skin stood nearby, while a man in an orange hazard suit with a beard was standing by."

"I'll take this," Barney told them.

They waited half a minute or two, when Barney suddenly yelled "Aw crap... Incoming!" we all ducked. It then hit me - that man in the orange hazard suit was Gordon Freeman.

I ran up to the screen just in time for Barney to say, "Go on, get going!" at them and closed signal. "Barney!" Rodney yelled. The man looked confused. "I need to find Dr. Freeman..."

"I can't get this tune out of my head." a nearby rebel suddenly said. He then proceeded to whistle it as soldiers came into view.

"Well," Barney said. "I think they'll be here soon enough. With Freeman, though, we could really get through this suppression device. Why don't you have a look around?"

Rodney nodded and had a look. He looked inside an alleyway, but found nothing. However, all of a sudden he felt a familiar falling sensation...


End file.
